1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bow sights for use with an archery bow. More particularly, the present invention relates to rear bow sights of the type that are intended to be used in conjunction with a front bow sight for aiming an archery bow.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A bow sight is a necessity for aiming a bow to fire an arrow while hunting or participating in competition shooting. Typically a front sight is used which has one or more vertically spaced, horizontal sight pins for aligning the bow with a target. Such front sight pins, however, cannot alone compensate for all of the variables of a particular shot. For example, no matter how well a front pin sight is calibrated, it cannot always compensate for the vertical drop inherent in a shot fired at the target. Typically, the archer will adjust the inclination of the bow (i.e., select a particular sight pin) to compensate for the vertical drop particular to a certain distance to the target. When selecting a particular pin sight, however, the archer may not consistently align his or her line of vision with the intended flight path of the arrow. To avoid the variability associated with unassisted adjustments made by the archer, it is well known in the prior art to utilize a rear sight for aligning the front sight upon a target located a certain distance away from the archer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,193 which issued to Rodney D. Hacquet on Sep. 17, 1991, discloses a bow sight including a front sight having at least one sight pin and a rear sight having a pivotally mounted member with a V-shaped notch intended for alignment with the pin of the front sight. The pivotal rear sight member accommodates for variable distances to the desired target. Other prior art bow sights which utilize a V-shaped notch in conjunction with the rear sight are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,484 which issued to Robert F. Lauffenburger on Aug. 5, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,088 which issued to Reginald G. Powers on Apr. 10, 1990; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,678 which issued to Benny Sears on Dec. 18, 1990.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,591 which issued to Glenn Montgomery on Sep. 24, 1985, discloses a bow sight assembly having a front sight element consisting of a plurality of sight pins, and an integral rear sight element consisting of a smaller sight pin encircled by a sighting ring that aids in the alignment of the front and rear pins. The sighting ring, however, is used only to highlight which of the front sighting pins with which the rear sighting pin is aligned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,301 which issued to Charles L. Forbis on Aug. 20, 1991, discloses a rear bow sight that may be used in connection with a variety of front bow sights. The rear bow sight has a mounting bracket with top and bottom flanges, and a pair of parallel spaced sighting line members formed of a string loop or the like which extend between the top and bottom flanges. The mounting bracket has an open side that exposes the sighting line members to interference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,503 which issued to Leo Land on Jan. 8, 1991, discloses a bow sight comprising integrally connected front and rear sights. The front sight includes a bracket with an opening having a pair of cross hairs passing therethrough and a plurality of vertically arranged sight pins adjacent to the opening. The rear sight includes a bracket with an opening having a pair of cross hairs passing therethrough, whereby aiming an arrow requires alignment of the cross hairs of the front and rear sights upon a portion of one sight pin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,169 which issued to Charles R. Keller on Oct. 3, 1995, discloses front and rear bow sights designed to cooperate together for aiming a bow. The front sight includes a loop frame having a vertically aligned sight pin pivotally mounted within the loop frame. Pivoting of the pin allows the front sight to gauge proper inclination of the bow during alignment for a shot. The rear sight includes a loop frame having a single, vertically disposed cross hair used for aligning the bow according to the pivotally mounted pin sight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,300 which issued to Thomas H. Sheffield on Aug. 20, 1991, discloses an archery bow sight having a single element positively biased against a range adjustment mechanism. The element includes either a single peep sight or a pair of aligned front and rear peep sights. Adjustment of the range adjustment mechanism biases the front and rear sights so that proper alignment of the bow with respect to the target is accomplished upon viewing the target through both peep sights.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,352 which issued to Manuel J. Leal on Feb. 18, 1986, discloses a bow sight comprising a front sight with a staircase configuration and a rear sight having an aperture provided with a pair of cross hairs. The cross hairs are intended to be aligned at various points along the staircase configuration of the front sight to accommodate for alternative distances to the desired target.
The rear in-line bow sight assembly of the present invention achieves the result of assisting an archer properly to align a bow by using a rear sight which makes apparent any significant deviation of the bow from its alignment with the target. An archer views a front sight pin through an aperture of the sight member on the rear bow sight whereby the aperture is large enough only to view a single sight pin for any given alignment of the bow. Thus, misalignment of the bow is immediately apparent to the archer.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.